Yeah, dude, adults do this. For one, you have received enough mediocre birthday presents by now to understand that really great gifts are really rare. So if you find something for someone that is totally perfect, why wait until their birthday? You might forget, waffle, or whatever. And then also you shouldn't feel as much pressure to give a mediocre present or gift card at the official times.

For what it's worth, given the alternative of websites like Redfin, you are effectively paying the realtor even if as a buyer you are not directly charged commission. I believe that Redfin acts as the buying agent and gets the standard 3% cut of the 6% commission, rebating you a 1.5% share. (selling agent obviously gets other 3%, and if you don't have a selling agent, they usually take all 6%. messed up, man.)

Turning down a risk-free 7% return (what he would get by paying down his student debt) is pretty confident. Getting a 9-12% return consistently on his 401k is too impressive to last forever, or else he is already set for life since that is a golden goose skill. Also worth mentioning that it sounds like he is more than maxing out his 401k, and this excess isn't getting the special tax treatment, so at least consider shifting these savings to debt.
Even if the above wasn't persuasive (ie, he feels he can significantly outperform 7% investing or really wants liquidity for a house), now that he has a good job, he should definitely be able to shift his student debt into a more attractive loan, as 7% is really a pretty high interest rate these days, especially given the special nature of student debt (doesn't go away in bankruptcy).

@aetataureate It's shocking that you are seeing these! Banks like to manage your money; they make money by charging a fee (hopefully you have chosen a retirement account with a low fee). Not only should you be able to find a bank with no rollover fee, you should be able to find a bank that will pay you to give them your money!

I think that this article misses why a lot of the "affluent" do not feel rich: although they have money to have relatively nice things and do not have to consider budgets a factor when fulfilling basic needs, they have basically no prospect of retiring while they are still in the prime of their life.
Sometimes the very affluent are criticized for wanting to live in a good school district or make a significant contribution to college. Imagine, however, that an affluent family decided to make no contribution to their child's education for "selfish" reasons like saving in order to retire very early. Is this not something that we would criticize even more strongly?